Some of what’s going around:
-New fountain: There’s a cool new fountain in the courtyard on Lexington Avenue just up the street from Mela restaurant. It will be a highlight of the new cafe preparing to open next to Mela.
-Twang: Twang Creative is a new advertising agency in Asheville. I like the name.
-Hilly Hellacious: This annual bicycle run was held Sunday. There’s a 60-miler and a 100-miler, all around the Lake Lure area. Like the name says – hellacious.
-Shut-In Ridge Run full: Registration for the Shut-In Ridge Run is full, but lots of folks still have their eyes on it. The 18-mile extreme run gains 3,000 feet of elevation and has “been destroying quads for 30 years,” according to ShutInRidgeRun.com.
-Ladylike: An interesting show is opening Oct. 8 at The Satellite Gallery in downtown Asheville. It’s called Ladylike, and it features the work of 12 area women artists who explore the theme of female rivalry.
-Trust General Store: This quaint general store out in the middle of nowhere, Madison County, has new life, according to a story in Sunday’s Asheville Citizen-Times.
With homemade blueberry pies cooling on window sills, locals whiling the day away on rocking chairs, and a welcoming atmosphere fueled by the genuine southern hospitality of its staff, it would be easy to believe that this hidden gem of a general store had been a fixture in these parts for countless generations. However, it was not too long ago that the store was in danger of disappearing altogether.
-Live Love LEAF: From Dreamspider’s Blog: Alissa Whelan, of Bright Life Photography, presents LIVE LOVE LEAF, a playful 2-part photography exhibit comprised of portraits taken at the Lake Eden Arts Festival (LEAF) Photo Booth and documentary photographs taken during Leaf in Schools & Streets (LSS) Music and Art classes. The show will be on display in the cafe at Greenlife throughout the month of October. An opening reception will be held on Tuesday, October 5th from 6-8 PM and will feature hors d’oeuvres and a craft beer & wine tasting. 50% of works sold will be donated to LSS.
-Happy birthday, Tom Wolfe: On the occasion of Thomas Wolfe’s birthday, Citizen-Times columnist Dale Neal writes a thought-provoking piece.
Wolfe reminds us the enemy is more elemental, “as old as Time and Evil as Hell, and he has been here with us from the beginning.” The foe we’ve always had as humans — not just as Americans — is not hard to identify. “I think the enemy is simple selfishness and compulsive greed.”
…
The passage comes at the end of a 700-plus page novel, not readily boiled down to a 30-second TV attack ad, but it’s a message we desperately need to hear. Thomas Wolfe reassures us that, despite the selfishness and greed that afflict us, we are all Americans, still making our dream and our democracy come true.
-Video hit: This TEDx Next Generation Asheville video of young Birke Baer’s presentation has been racking up the hits. Awesome.